Bottle feeding may cause colic, gas, or constipation. Is your baby crying and restless after feeding? Learn how to feed with baby formula and avoid constipation, colic, and flatulence after baby formula.
How to Recognize Tummy Pain and Constipation in Babies?
The baby will not complain of abdominal pain. The fact that it suffers from this, however, can be recognized by quite characteristic symptoms. Babies usually have colic symptoms in the afternoon or evening, often after feeding. An infant cries desperately, pulls up its legs, and turns red in the face. Colic pain is so severe that many babies cry for several hours a day because of it. Regular colic can occur even for several months.
Constipation is manifested by the fact that the baby does not poop for several days in a row, and when it finally does, there are hard balls of stool in the diaper. Their excretion also causes severe pain. Constipation that recurs regularly can damage the lining of the anus, and a little blood will appear in the diaper. However, these problems can be solved by feeding the baby correctly.
How to Choose the Right Formula?
Constipation in a formula-fed newborn may be caused by the wrong choice of formula. The choice of baby formula is always an individual matter. What is good for one baby will not necessarily be good for another. Besides, it is important to check with a pediatrician before making a choice.
So what should you look for when selecting the best formula for constipated babies? The most important criterion is age because babies of different ages have different nutritional needs. The age is marked on the package with a number (1, 2, 3, 4, or 5), and an indication of the month from the mixture can be used.
Also, check if the baby formula contains prebiotics. These are carbohydrates, specifically oligosaccharides, a nutrient for probiotics (so-called good bacteria) living in the intestines. Besides, their addition softens the stool, making it easier for the child to defecate. More and more formulas for infants include prebiotics, so you will eventually find one that your baby will accept.
The method of preparing the mixture is also important. The manufacturer’s instructions are not just suggestions that can be followed or not. You have to stick to it strictly. If you pour too much powder into the water, the meal will become too rich and hard to digest. After drinking it, the baby may have a tummy ache, and constipation may occur.
Which Position Is the Best for Bottle Feeding?
When being bottle-fed, the baby swallows some air along with the mixture. When too much air accumulates in the stomach, abdominal pain and even colic may occur. This is especially important when the infant is bottle-fed. More milk flows through the teat at once, and it flows faster, which is why bottle-fed babies swallow more air, and they need to be helped to get rid of it even several times during the meal. Therefore, when bottle feeding, you should take care of the right bottle and feeding position.
Feeding a newborn is most often done as follows: mom or dad puts the baby in the crook of their forearm. However, you can look further and put the baby in other positions, especially if you feel pain in the forearm. Placing your baby on your bent legs is a great way to bottle-feed it properly. Sit on the couch or the floor, bend your legs, and put the baby on them. Remember to place the baby high so that its legs are not bent.
Check out: Benefits of Getting a Baby Bed With a Changing Table Attached
